Configuration method of a multimedia system

ABSTRACT

A configuration method of a multimedia system comprising a first device and at least one adjacent device having a mechanism to communicate with the first device. The first device comprises a mechanism to read/write data from/to an NFC data carrier. The method comprises a set-up phase and an exploitation phase.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/959,792 filed Dec. 4, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/204,362 filed Mar. 11, 2014 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,236,932 issued Jan. 12, 2016), which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/775,737, filed Mar. 11, 2013. All of theforegoing are incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Near Field Communication Technology, known by the acronym “NFC”, is awireless, high frequency communication technology, having a range of afew centimeters, for the exchange of information between multipledevices. This technology is derived from a combination of a smart cardinterface and a contactless reader in a single device.

An NFC device is able to communicate with other NFC devices as well asdevices operating in accordance with the ISO 14443 standard (contactlesssmart cards).

NFC standards cover the NFC communication protocols and data exchangeformats and are based on existing standards for radio frequencyidentification (RFID) such as ISxO/IEC 14443, FeliCa and ISO/IEC 18092.They include standards defined by the “NFC Forum”, which was founded in2004 by Nokia, Philips and Sony and includes more than 180 members.

NFC is an extension of RFID technology, allowing two-way communicationbetween two devices, while previous systems, such as contactless smartcards, allowed only one-way communication.

NFC technology is usable only over a short distance of a fewcentimeters, which implies a voluntary user and prevents unintentionaluse.

NFC devices can be active or passive. A passive NFC device, such as atag, a smart card or a simple chip affixed to an object containsinformation only readable by other NFC-enabled devices. A passive NFCdevice is powered by the electromagnetic field generated by a reader(active device) and therefore does not need its own power supply.

An active NFC device, however, is a device that generates anelectromagnetic field. This generation can be done to communicate with apassive device (described above) or to establish a communication channelbetween two active devices.

The fact that a device like a smartphone has a power supply does notnecessarily mean that it will work in active mode only. That is, asmartphone can handle the NFC interface in active or passive modes. Inpassive mode, the device emulates a chip card. In this mode, thesmartphone (or any other portable device such as tablets) will store, ina secure memory, information that is normally stored in a card. Thus,when the smartphone detects an electromagnetic field, it can access thesecure memory and a corresponding device having NFC capacities will beable to read information in passive mode from the secure memory.

The following are examples of known applications that use NFCtechnology:

-   -   payment using a credit card or contactless (e.g., mobile phone,        smartphone, laptop, tablet computer, etc.) mobile device on a        contactless payment terminal;    -   payment at a parking terminal accepting contactless payment        using an NFC mobile terminal;    -   contactless purchase of a ticket and contactless validation of a        ticket displayed on a mobile phone;    -   management of coupons, loyalty points, etc. in a store, at        retailers, etc. (e.g., couponing);    -   accessing and starting a vehicle using a mobile phone;    -   reading product information (e.g., price, composition, allergy,        etc.) in a store;    -   controlling physical access to premises (e.g., meeting room,        business, classroom, etc.);    -   exchanging profiles between users of a social network or a game        by bringing phones close together (e.g., user peer-to-peer        communications);    -   reading an electronic business card with a PDA (Personal Digital        Assistant);    -   synchronizing Internet bookmarks and contacts between a PDA and        a mobile phone;    -   recovering a key to a WiFi access point approaching an NFC        device from an authorized terminal; and;    -   accessing automation features of a building.

In a home environment, different devices such as e.g., a television,decoder, DVD and/or HD (hard disk) reader/writer, media player areconnected to each other over a home network. As can be appreciated, itcould be difficult to configure these various devices when a specificfunction is required. Many operations are necessary to select a specificsource, switch the appropriate devices, and select the appropriatesetting before finally enjoy the program desired by the consumer.

SUMMARY

Embodiments disclosed herein store configuration data on an NFC portabledevice. Each device comprises configuration data defining the input andoutput setting of the device as well as any internal settings. Theconfiguration message comprises the configuration data and the deviceidentifier. The collection of the configuration messages for a system isreferred to herein as a set of configuration data. The set ofconfiguration data refers to a set of connected devices, and theconfiguration messages can be transmitted to a first device to configurethe device; the first device transferring the configuration messages tothe other devices for subsequent configuration of these devices.

According to a first embodiment, the first device comprises a built-inNFC reader adapted to read the set of configuration data stored in theNFC portable device. The first device is connected with the otherdevices by various communication methods such as e.g., Wifi, HDMI,Ethernet, Bluetooth. The configuration data is passed to the otherdevices to complete the configuration of the system.

The embodiments disclosed herein includes two primary steps: set-up andthe exploitation of the configuration data. The set-up phase includesthe gathering of the configuration of each device and the transmissionof the configuration data to the portal device, i.e., the device inconnection with the NFC card. The exploitation phase occurs when a useris ready to configure the system and use one of the NFC data carriers topass the configuration data to the system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURE

Embodiments disclosed herein and their advantages will be betterunderstood with reference to the enclosed drawing and to the followingdetailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system comprising a plurality of devices that areconnected together and configured using an NFC data carrier.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a multi-media system comprising different devicesconnected together to provide a variety of entertainment experiences.The system can provide for a plurality of particular entertainmentexperiences such as e.g., watching broadcast channels, watching recordedmovies (on DVD or local hard hisk), watching video content stored in aremote storage, playing a video game, listening to music, etc., as wellas a combination of these experiences, for example when a media contentshould be recorded while another content is being played back.

Set-Up Phase

The first phase is the set-up phase in which the system is set to aparticular function, for example, watching a broadcast channel and usingthe 5:1 audio system to enjoy better sound. Each device can have severalinputs and several outputs. The television D4 communicates its setting(e.g., selection of input L4 or L5 or the output) as a configurationmessage to the set-top box D2. The set-top box device D2 is connected toan audio/video signal L2, which could be the cable network, a connectionto a satellite receiver or a terrestrial antenna. The connection betweendevices D2 and D4 is preferably an HDMI connection. This connectionallows the transfer of configuration data due to a CEC (ConsumerElectronics Control) connection or an Ethernet data connection. In theillustrated example, device D2 does not contain an NFC reader and theseconfiguration messages should be transferred to device D3, which ise.g., a network media server. Device D3 is connected with the Internet(L1) and can access on-line media content. The connection betweendevices D3 and D2 is preferably HDMI with the same possibility totransfer configuration data. If, for example, the version of HDMI is notcompliant with the dialog necessary for transferring the configurationmessages, devices D3 and D2 can communicate via a Bluetooth channel. Themedia content will be transferred through the HDMI while theconfiguration data can use a different route, for example, the Bluetoothchannel.

In the example above, the state of device D1 is not important since itwill not play a role in the expected function. However, in otherexamples, device D1 will be configured as well. Device D1 can be aDVD/HD recorder and can communicate with device D2 via HDMI or Ethernet.

Once the configuration data from each device is collected and sent tothe media player D3, the set of configuration data is transferred andstored in an NFC device.

In this phase, device D3 can execute a function referred to as devicediscovery. Device D3 senses each of its connection to determine ifanother device is connected. If it is determined that another device isconnected (i.e., a positive event), device D3 tries to communicate viathe discovered channel(s) (e.g., HDMI, Bluetooth, Ethernet or Wifi) andcollect the configuration message of each adjacent device. Device D3asks the adjacent device to replicate the same function so that theconfiguration data of a device such as e.g., screen D4, not directlyconnected with device D3, can pass its configuration data to device D2and then to device D3. An “adjacent device” is a device with which adirect connection can be established. It should be noted that eachdevice has an identifier that is added as a header to the configurationdata. When device D2 receives the configuration data from the screen D4,the message comprises an identifier and the configuration data of theidentified device, such as:ID_D4, CONF_D4: the identifier of D4 precedes the configuration data ofD4.

This message is then transferred to device D3 and device D2 adds itsheader:ID_D2; ID_D4; CONF_D4

The first header being the first device to which the message will besent during the exploitation phase (discussed below). The second headerbeing the next device to which the message will be sent, and so on.

Preferably, each device generates and stores a list of identifiers ofadjacent devices by collecting the identifiers of the adjacent devices.This list can be used to route the messages during the exploitationphase.

According to another embodiment, the message generated by a device isnot modified and is forwarded to the adjacent device without adding theidentifier of said device.

These messages, comprising configuration data and identifier(s), arestored in an NFC data carrier due to the reader located in device D3.The NFC data carrier can be a smartcard, dongle or any type of passiveNFC device. In addition, the NFC data carrier could be a smartphone or atablet in which the configuration data is stored.

The configuration of the system is linked with one NFC data carrier whenthe NFC data carrier is a passive device. However, when the NFC datacarrier is an active device such as e.g., a smartphone, it is possibleto store a plurality of configuration sets, each being the specificconfiguration of each device in the system. Each time that a specificconfiguration is acquired and stored, the user initiates a commandpreferably with the device hosting the NFC reader and this devicecollects the configuration data of each device of the system and storesthem in the NFC data carrier.

Exploitation Phase

The NFC data carrier is presented to one of the devices that is part ofthe system and comprises an NFC reader. This device could be the samedevice D3 that was used during the set-up phase of another device.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a remote control comprises an NFC reader. Thisallows the user to simply activate the NFC function on the remotecontrol (in order to save the battery life of the remote control) and toread in the configuration data from the NFC data carrier. Once in theremote control, the set of configuration data is sent to the device withwhich the remote control is normally connected to (e.g., device D1 inthe illustrated example).

Device D1, when the data is received, determines if some configurationdata is intended for device D1. If so, the configuration data is used toconfigure device D1. The other configuration data is then forwarded toother devices. In the example of the FIG. 1, the configuration datareceived by device D1 is then transferred to device D2. Device D2extracts the configuration data intended for device D2 and passes theother data to the adjacent devices.

The list of adjacent devices can be used to route each message to itsdestination. When the identifier of a message is not present in thelist, device D1 sends the message of an non-adjacent device to alldevices connected to it. Upon receipt of this message, device D2 checksits identifier list and determines that it is connected to device D4.Device D2 can then forward the message to device D4.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A configuration method for a multimediasystem comprising a first device, a first adjacent device and a secondadjacent device, the first adjacent device being adapted to communicatewith the first device, the second adjacent device being adapted tocommunicate with the first adjacent device, said first device beingadapted to read from and write to a near field communication (NFC) datacarrier, said method comprising: a set-up phase comprising collecting bythe first device configuration data pertaining to the first device;receiving by the first device from the first adjacent device aconfiguration message comprising configuration data and a deviceidentifier pertaining to the first adjacent device; receiving by thefirst device, from the first adjacent device a configuration messagecomprising configuration data and a device identifier pertaining to thesecond adjacent device forming by the first device a set ofconfiguration messages; and transferring the set of configurationmessages to an NFC data carrier; and an exploitation phase comprisingreading by the first device the set of configuration messages stored inthe NFC data carrier; extracting by the first device the configurationdata of the first device from the set of configuration messages;transferring by the first device to the first adjacent device and secondadjacent device, the configuration messages of said devices, and loadingthe configuration data of the first device, the first adjacent deviceand the second adjacent device, to obtain a particular entertainmentfunction.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device receivesdata from a remote control, said remote control comprising an NFC readerto read the NFC data carrier and to transmit the set of configurationdata to the first device.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein each devicecomprises a device identifier and is adapted to: send a request to anadjacent device; receive a response containing the device identifier ofthe adjacent device; and build and store a list of adjacent devices. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the first device, based on the deviceidentification contained in the set of configuration messages and thelist of adjacent devices, routes the configuration messages to theappropriate device.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicationbetween the first device and the first adjacent device is an HDMIcommunication.
 6. A first device comprising: a near field communication(NFC) interface adapted to read from and write to a near fieldcommunication (NFC) data carrier; a communications interface configuredfor communications with a first adjacent device; and a logic circuitconnected to the NFC interface and the communications interface; whereinthe first device is adapted to: collect configuration data pertaining tothe first device; receive from the first adjacent device a configurationmessage comprising configuration data and a device identifier pertainingto the first adjacent device; receive from the first adjacent device aconfiguration message comprising configuration data and a deviceidentifier pertaining to a second adjacent device form a set ofconfiguration messages; transfer the set of configuration messages to anNFC data carrier; read the set of configuration messages stored in theNFC data carrier; extract the configuration data of the first devicefrom the set of configuration messages; transfer to the first adjacentdevice and second adjacent device, the configuration messages of saiddevices; and load the configuration data of the first device, the firstadjacent device and the second adjacent device, to obtain a particularentertainment function.
 7. The first device of claim 6, wherein thefirst device receives data from a remote control, said remote controlcomprising an NFC reader to read the NFC data carrier and to transmitthe set of configuration data to the first device.
 8. The first deviceof claim 6, wherein the first adjacent device is connected to the secondadjacent device, wherein the second adjacent device is not connected tothe first device, and wherein a configuration message received by thefirst adjacent device is at least partly passed to the second adjacentdevice.
 9. The first device of claim 6, wherein the first device, basedon device identifiers contained in the set of configuration messages anda list of adjacent devices, routes the configuration messages to theappropriate device.
 10. The first device of claim 6, wherein thecommunication between the first device and the first adjacent device isan HDMI communication.